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About JUSTA

The collective members learn everything I learn. We teach each other. As I continue to equip and empower them with continuing education and business knowledge, my goal is that these women will continue to grow this project for themselves. I will always be with them, but their strength will allow them to become more and more independent.

Posts by Jackie Mauer:

Teen parenthood, poor health, malnutrition and poverty are all a part of life in San Antonio Chacaya, where, traditionally education ended in 5th grade. This changed in 2008 with the founding of a (three year) half-day middle school named Instituto Educación Básica por Cooperativa de San Antonio Chacaya.

I sat down with the Head Teacher, Mariano, and invited him to talk about his project – its origins, growth, and struggles:

In its first year, the school welcomed 16 students. Enrollment has since tripled, but there are still many empty seats. Most children in the community do not sign up – impeded by the lack of resources to pay the meager student fees or the pressure to work. Generation after generation has lived without a school, and has accepted that as a part of life. So Mariano recognizes that the community does not see education as an option for them and wants to change that. Mariano and his teachers want the community to see the true potential of its children and for the children to see the potential within themselves. They want to “see a town more developed than it was when they began” and to “help students learn what they need to get out of the extreme poverty in which they live.”

The school receives about $133 from the government per month, and another $80 from the municipality. The rest of the school’s operational costs are gathered through student fees (about $5.5 per child per month). The Mariano walked me through a little matmajority of this money is divided up among the teachers, who receive $33 per month for personal transportation, classroom materials, and salary.

If we begin with $33 and subtract $24 for personal transportation (the teachers don’t own cars, so they pay $1 round-trip to hop on a public “pick-up”), this leaves $9 for classroom materials essential to learning. What’s left over? Nothing. So when all is said and done, the teachers are volunteers. Some day Mariano hopes to be able to pay them what they deserve. This is just one of the goals that JUSTA would like to help them reach.

JUSTA has been working closely with the school since 2013.

Over the years we’ve implemented a variety of short-term projects with the school: nutrition workshops, permaculture and eco-building events, yoga and meditation classes, and a student scholarship program.

At the end of the past school year (in October), our fantastic Chacaya Program Coordinator, Stéphanie Desruelles, worked with Mariano to identify a long-term approach for the 2016 school year (beginning this month). They identified three areas of focus:

student support: scholarships to help students continue their education and to possibly enroll more students into school

teacher support: professional development through a variety of teacher training sessions and an attempt to move away from traditional teaching methods to a more participative and motivational student-centred approach

health and wellness for all: regular yoga/meditation/nutritional classes and a series of day clinics with qualified doctors

2016 is off to a great start!

With school starting again, we’ve been fundraising for scholarships and beginning the first step of our professional development for teachers. JUSTA organized a three-part workshop series to take place during the two weeks leading up to the 2016 school year. The workshop series was designed to create a foundation on which to build more dynamic and creative classrooms that truly meet the needs of the children.

The first workshop was led by Rudy Antonelly Gómez Sánchez (clinical psychologist, meditation and yoga teacher). He provided an overview of human development (physical, social, sexual, and spiritual) with a focus on the adolescent period and the needs of adolescents. Teachers led passionate conversations about how to best support adolescents in poverty or in unstable families using an understanding of their developmental stage.Clinical psychologist and certified Montessori guide, Shirley Yancor López, led the second workshop. In October, JUSTA arranged for the Chacaya teachers to visit Shirley’s Montessori school in Xela, observe her method and classroom environment and provide a foundation for this January workshop. Shirley expanded on their observations by detailing 10 key elements of a Montessori classroom (motivation, student-centered approach, participation, independence, creativity, etc.) and working with teachers to imagine ways for those elements to be incorporated into their mainstream school.

The final workshop of this series was lead by Zachary Towne-Smith of Caracol Consulting. Teachers explored practical strategies to embed creativity, motivational, and hands-on activities into their classrooms. They found particularly effective the idea of having students clearly state their learning goals in order to establish a shared list as well as a group commitment to what they will invest in order to reach those goals. The central activity was a role-play showing the challenges they face in the classroom, acting out a negative teacher response followed by a response that embodies the values they’ve identified to be ideal during the previous two sessions.

These sessions required a great deal of energy, time, and bravery, but as evidenced by their commitment to work late and forego breaks, they are highly motivated to do everything they can to give their students what they deserve. They understand that our future, and our present depend on them. A few teachers even invited family members interested in education to come and take advantage of the opportunity. Reflections and surveys following these workshops indicate that teachers want to continue working with these themes and developing their skills, so we’re working with Mariano to plan the next steps and we’ll continue to respond to their enthusiasm throughout the year.

With this workshop series, the Instituto’s team of dedicated teachers is expanding and further defining the power of their school. Schools in and of themselves are not necessarily agents of change, but good school are powerful, and may be the key to easing poverty in Chacaya. By founding the Instituto in 2008, Mariano and the teachers created a framework for their work in the community. Now, by shifting the focus to the learners’ needs, expanding opportunities for choice and creativity, and taking a holistic approach to education, the teachers are beginning to answer the question of how to make their impact.

Make your impact with JUSTA

JUSTA not only provides resources for the middle school, but also supports the individual, at-risk students through our scholarship program. These students come from families without the financial means to afford the $85 yearly expense for tuition, school supplies, and uniform. We need your help to secure the last 15 scholarships for our students. Invest in a child’s education and change a life forever by donating here!

In October of 2014, groups of local community leaders of San Marcos La Laguna – including women, youth, political leaders, and a few international residents – met to find solutions to the issues facing their town. After delving into many interrelated problems, the group decided to respond to a lack of well-paying work for women and a lack of nutritious snack options by founding a cooperative named Sabor del Sol.

The co-op created a product: healthy snack foods created using solar energy. In fact, the name of the co-op translates to “Taste of the Sun”. Members got to work testing recipes and preparing dried fruits, beef jerky, cookies, and seeds in their solar dehydrator and solar oven, then selling these products in San Marcos La Laguna. It has been a learning experience for all, and everyone is looking forward to year two!

There are several rainy months each year in San Marcos, however, and snack production slows down considerably at that time. During this past rainy season, Sabor del Sol members decided to take on a new challenge: sewing. The co-op secured a generous donation of one sewing machine, a large stock of fabric to practice with, and a couple months of classes for the members (taught by a local indigenous man). With the purchase of two more machines (an investment from this past year’s snackfood profits) and a lot of enthusiasm, the project was underway! The co-op is currently making reusable grocery bags, napkins, and aprons with local, traditional fabrics.

The story up to this point is impressive enough to pause and appreciate: A community comes together and finds an environmentally-friendly solution to an economic and health dilemma. Women (many of whom single mothers) find themselves in a new job with decision-making power, and a small business grows.

But within that greater story of the co-op there are thousands of smaller stories… thousands of little ripples moving gently away from the site of this impact. There are stories of women who now have their own income to start purchasing food for their families. Stories of community members making the choice to buy local rather than purchase something imported. Stories of learning. Stories of cooperation. Stories of pride and self-esteem.

One particular story that may be overlooked by many outsiders is that of the machine. Learning to use a sewing machine is no small task for the women of San Marcos. Women are encouraged – expected really – to be weavers and embroiderers, sure. But using a machine in this region, is men’s work.

So what makes a half a dozen women decide to buy a machine and learn to use it when culture tells them they shouldn’t?

We asked Elia, a dedicated member of the co-op from the beginning, about the project:

Elia and the other members of Sabor Del Sol have made a significant investment – both financially and emotionally. They’re excited to be their own bosses, calling the shots, taking calculated risks, and pushing slowly but steadily against the glass ceiling and the obstacles in their path.

The co-op is currently winding down from their classes and looking into ways to expand their production. JUSTA Collective has committed to purchasing 100 aprons from the co-op as they become available. These will be made available in 2016, both online and at festivals.

Last month marked the one-year anniversary of Konojel‘s Children’s Education program. Konojel began 4 years ago as a lunch program for mothers and children who are the most at risk of acute and mal-nutrition. Last year, the lunch program grew to include a Children’s Education Program for the beneficiary children. After lunch, approximately 30 children stay for an hour for support in reading, writing, math, and to play in ways that support their personal and academic development.

The program got a boost this January, when Konojel and JUSTA teamed up to co-fund a major step in its development. Konojel received an education grant, and JUSTA matched the funding of the Children’s Education Program. This was enough support to hire two indigenous women from the community of San Marcos and me, Jackie Mauer.

I have about 10 years of teaching experience – working in schools in Wisconsin and on education-oriented projects in four countries. I hold a professional masters degree in French and International Development. Before coming to Guatemala to work coordinate this program for Konojel and JUSTA, my Spanish was limited as was my experience in Central America.

Laura, our first educational assistant (far right), is an 18-year-old woman from San Marcos. She has a middle school degree and cares for her diabetic mother while she is not at Konojel. She is trying to find a way to earn a high school degree, but money and cultural expectations are obstacles.

Vicenta (far left), our second educational assistant, is also from San Marcos and is working on her middle school degree in night school. She is a single mother with three daughters; two of her daughters go to a Waldorf school in town. Vicenta is an eager participant of Konojel’s adult-oriented nutrition workshops and the Waldorf school’s parent workshops.

The members of our team come from very different societies and have very different culturally-formed ideas about what childhood and education mean. In my hometown, kids go to school for 8 hours and then hop from ballet to soccer to karate classes. In San Marcos, many people as young as 6 are out doing odd jobs carrying wood or splitting rocks to buy their own food; school means a drop in income. Schools also operate very differently in our two countries with different learning objectives.

With such different cultural backgrounds and social realities, how can we agree on what the kids need? How does our team make decisions?

We skipped some tough conversations and let the kids show us what to do.

We observed that children were more engaged in activities that they had chosen themselves. So we give them choice. Children can choose activities such as reading for fun, tackling visual-spatial puzzles, researching topics of interest, and trying creative art and craft projects.

We observed that children were more likely to absorb information while interacting one-on-one with the adults (rather than in the whole group), so we provide activities that kids can do independently and float around to deliver personalized support.

We observed that children display more interest in practicing math skills when they are playing a game than when they were doing a worksheet. So we made and acquired math games and intervention tools to develop different skills in the Guatemalan curriculum.

Laura, Vicenta, and I do sometimes have differing opinions about how an activity should run or what to prioritize, and these ideas are deeply rooted in our very different notions of childhood and education and our different cultural experiences.

This is the tricky part about multi-cultural/diverse teams – everyone is right. We can’t debate an idea and expect to change the other person’s mind. So when differing ideas come up, we skip the debate and just try one – then discuss. Our discussions are then based on our shared experiences and nourished by our different backgrounds. If we see positive attitudes and participation when we try something, the idea takes hold and finds a place in our co-constructed values and philosophy.

As Laura, Vicenta, and I grow in our understanding of how to support the children in our program, the children also grow. Over the past few months we’ve seen more smiles, more curiosity for learning, and more cooperation and kindness. Many of our children do not have adults in their lives to care for them and on whom they can rely. Slowly, the children of Konojel are adapting to an environment where they are free and safe to just be kids.